Remington
Park’s 23rd season may prove as meaningful as its first. In 1988,
Remington opened as “the palace on the plains.” But it just as easily
could have been called “the envy of Texas.”

While Texas racing
languished tepidly in an incubator of intrigue, Remington brought
major-league racing to the area. Edward J. DeBartolo, the shopping mall
developer who had transformed Louisiana Downs into a showplace, indeed
built a palatial racetrack that attracted quality of all kinds.

Much
has changed since then, of course. Texas got its own racetracks. And
Remington, after years of success, slipped into torpor and then fell
heavily into decline, mostly because of gaming competition but also
because of fatuous and feckless management.

But with its 23rd
season, which concluded Saturday, Remington returned to square one. And
the Oklahoma racetrack is once again the envy of Texas.